Rio Tinto finally admits it's climate-confused

The latest came on Thursday with the release of its latest statement on “advocacy alignment”, no doubt agreed upon by a committee of halfwits paid millions. Each.

Rio made it clear that “where our membership is significant, we will work in partnership with those industry associations to ensure their advocacy is consistent with our own public position” on climate change.

Special criticism was reserved for the Minerals Council of Australia, which had engaged in “public commentary and advocacy on thermal coal and decarbonisation that is not technology neutral and is inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement”.

Um, Rio Tinto announced six weeks ago it was spending $US924 million ($1.5 billion) to build a 300 megawatt coal-fired power station to run its Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia. So the MCA is damned for speaking in defence of thermal coal by a mining company now investing in it. Please explain?

Rio says it aspires to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It believes spiritually in the Paris Agreement. Then Rio does the very opposite.

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How could the Minerals Council ever advocate in a fashion consistent with Rio Tinto’s own public position, which is literally impossible to adhere consistently to?

“We have become aware that some of our industry association and climate change principles leave room for interpretation and therefore require clarification,” Rio conceded on Thursday, in one of recent history’s greatest cases of corporate understatement.

Imagine trying to lobby governments on behalf of this alley of clowns. There isn’t enough money in the world…

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